The comments presented in this article obviously do not exhaust the whole of the subject matter. What remains is the broad sphere of collective labor relations that apart from the requirement that the provisions of collective labor agreements be observed for one year have, to date, not found their reflection in Polish legal standards. However, this in no way belittles the fact that, in general, Polish regulations are in line with the overall requirements of European law. Nevertheless, it will be court decisions issued on the basis of regulations in force as of January 1, 2004 that will show if this agreement is only formal in nature or if the standards have actually been introduced into business practice.
(The abstracted paper is also published in English: Ibid. 2004, Nr 1s(33), pp. 57-62). The article presents the efforts undertaken at the Community level aimed at introducing appropriate minimum standards into national legislation securing employee interests and the principles of operation of European works councils as discussed in the Act on European Works Councils of April 5, 2002.
Will our remuneration change following Poland's entry into the European Union? This was one of the most frequently asked questions on the eve of Poland's EU accession. Many people dreamed of salaries, if not on the German level, than at least on the Spanish or Portuguese one. The hope for increasing the thickness of one's wallet was linked with regulations introduced into the Labor Code relating to a ban on discrimination in remuneration.